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carbon capture and storage

Could oil nation Norway help save the climate?

The world may not be able to make necessary changes in time to limit rapid global temperature rise, the UN climate panel has warned. Existing emissions must also be captured and stored. Norway thinks it has the answer.

For those of us who thought installing solar panels, planting trees and switching to an electric car would do the trick, this month's report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was a startling wake-up call.

The world is facing a climate catastrophe, and urgent and unprecedented changes are needed, it said. That includes carbon capture and storage (CCS), a technology that in the past has been fraught with problems.

CCS is extremely expensive, and critics have long argued that it is nothing but an excuse for the fossil fuel industry to carry on as normal, to the detriment of the growth of renewable alternatives. Yet in Norway, the technology is gaining traction. Little surprise, given the country's continued plans to exploit oil.

"The climate challenge is so big that you have to use all the tools that you have in your toolbox," said Trude Sundset, CEO of Gassnova, the Norwegian state company responsible for finding CCS solutions for the future.

While renewable energy production is growing quickly, many industries, like cement and steel, emit vast amounts of CO2 in their production processes. This is where carbon capture technology is the only solution — apart from shutting down production altogether, Sundset argued.

"You can put as many solar panels on all the cement factories as you want, but you will still have very high CO2 emissions from this industry," she said. "And the only solution that we know of today is to capture the CO2 and store it underground."

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Can CO2 be stored?

Can CO2 be stored?

First project on the horizon

With Norwegian government support, Gassnova is now entering the final stages of a pilot project that could see the first full-scale carbon capture plants installed at a cement factory and a waste incinerating facility. Each would capture 400,000 tons of CO2 annually — that's equivalent to the emissions from 171,000 cars.

"The process of making cement in itself emits a lot of CO2, and the total cement production in the world represents 5 to 7 percent of the total CO2 emissions every year," said Per Brevik, director of sustainability and alternative fuels at Heidelberg Cement Northern Europe, part of Gassnova's pilot project.

The plant, a two-hour drive south of the Norwegian capital, Oslo, has already tested various carbon capture methods and hopes the full-scale solution will be up and running by 2024.

"We will take out the CO2 from the flue gas, condition it and store it on the bottom of the North Sea," Brevik explained.

Oslo's Klemetsrud waste incinerator plant is one of two pilot projects for full-scale carbon capture and storage technology

Financial incentive: Higher emissions taxes?

The idea of removing CO2 from the air to store it in porous rock under the seafloor is not a new one. Norway's state energy company, Equinor, has run a CCS plant on one of its natural gas platforms in the North Sea since 1996, proving the technology works.

That particular project makes economic sense, thanks to Norway's CO2 emissions tax of €52 ($60) per ton on offshore oil and gas installations. Equinor would have had to fork out €105,000 a day to release the CO2 into the atmosphere, making CCS a cheaper alternative.

"The problem is, there is no business model for this [onshore]," said Sverre Overa, a project director at Equinor. The current European CO2 tax is less than €20 per ton — although that price is set to increase in 2019.

"The quota prices that exist are not sufficient today to cover the cost both of capturing and storing the CO2," said Overa. "Over time we believe that gap will be closing. Deploying more and more of these facilities will bring the cost curve down, like it has for renewables."

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What is your personal CO2 balance?

What is your personal CO2 balance?

Could oil and gas know-how save the day?

Perhaps somewhat paradoxically, Norway's experience with offshore oil and gas exploration could start benefiting the environment. Gassnova is now using this technical know-how to prepare a CO2 storage infrastructure that could be implemented across Europe.

Captured CO2 will be liquefied and transported on ships to a facility on Norway's western coast. From there, it can be piped out to the North Sea and pumped some 3,000 meters (about 10,000 feet) down into porous rock formations.

"If we succeed in setting up our own infrastructure, industries in the UK, Germany and elsewhere can see that if they capture their emissions from their industry, they can actually send it somewhere and somebody will make sure it is safely stored," said Gassnova's Sundset.

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Capturing carbon from coal

Capturing carbon from coal in Canada

Industry insiders have said there is already interest in the Norwegian CCS model from companies elsewhere in Europe.

"Norway is very much one of the front-runners on CCS in Europe; it's really shown that CCS can be deployed as a technology to help reduce CO2 emissions on an industrial scale," said Luke Warren of the Zero Emission Platform, an interest organization of the CCS industry and research groups, which also advises the European Commission on the technology.

"The next phase of Norway's program, which is developing the infrastructure to enable capture from multiple industrial sources, is really exciting. And I think if this project is realized, there will be opportunities for other sources within Europe to access the infrastructure there," he said.

Dependent on government support

Previous Norwegian governments have shelved large-scale CCS projects, but the current administration has so far provided the necessary funds for the pilot projects.

In its latest budget proposal in October, the government set aside a further €71 million for the development of CCS technology. It has promised a final decision on whether to go ahead with the two full-scale carbon capture plants and the infrastructure for CO2 storage under the North Sea by 2021.

The total cost has been estimated to be €1.6 billion. Energy companies Equinor, Shell and Total are already involved in the development of Norway's CCS project, carrying some of the costs alongside the Norwegian state. But it remains to be seen who will foot the greater part of the final bill.

How oil leaks into everyday life

Cleaning products

Containers for cleaning products are made with oil-based plastics. They are fairly stable, light and cheap. Their contents are also by and large oil based. Surfactants are detergent substances that remove grease and water-based stains and are poisonous for aquatic organisms. People with allergies can break out in rashes and acne from them, too.

How oil leaks into everyday life

'C' is for citrus — and clean

Lemons were long used as cleaning agents before the industrial cleaning revolution. Citric acid has similar scrubbing abilities as vinegar and sodium bicarbonate — without the dangerous side affects. Citrus cleans grills and combats germs on cutting boards. The organic solutions are plentiful, biodegradable, affordable and can come free of packaging.

How oil leaks into everyday life

(Literally) tons of plastic

About 380 million tons of plastics are produced every year worldwide, but only 9 percent of that is recycled, according to a University of California study. The rest is burned, dumped or sent to a landfill. Even recycled material gets quickly trashed again. Researchers estimate that 34 billion tons of plastic will have been produced by 2050.

How oil leaks into everyday life

Straws going au naturel

The flood of plastic won't stop if people don't change their ways. That's what the European Commission has concluded, and it wants to ban sales of plastic cutlery and straws. These are items that are quickly produced, used and thrown away, only to then burden the planet for centuries to come. One major packaging producer, Tetra Pak, has since announced it will change over to making paper straws.

How oil leaks into everyday life

Image cleanup

Germany is Europe's top producer of plastic waste, according to the Federal Environment Agency. Single-family homes purchase items in smaller and individually wrapped quantities. Plastic and styrofoam packaging is generated by online shopping and used for coffee and food on the go. The city of Hanover has taken the lead by introducing a 2-euro ($2.32) deposit scheme for reusable cups.

How oil leaks into everyday life

Desperate fight against plastic buildup

India has a major problem with plastic waste. New Delhi, the capital, has banned single-use plastic, but it is just a drop in the bucket. About 1.5 million Indians earn a living collecting plastic; there is no functioning disposal system. Trash is often burned, which releases poisonous fumes.

How oil leaks into everyday life

Like the good ol' days

Containers can be more ecologically friendly, too. Before the era of plastic, dairy products came in glass. Packaging for drinks can be made out of renewable materials like wood from sustainable sources. Consumer choices can be decisive in the potential reduction of materials based on fossil fuels.

How oil leaks into everyday life

Oily discs

Every CD and DVD contains about 30 grams of crude oil, and 40 billion discs are produced every year around the world, each one made of polycarbonate, aluminum and lacquer. Many of these get thrown away. Germany's recycling rate is about 5 percent, according to the Federal Environment Agency, though the waste gets turned into eyeglass frames, computer monitor housings and vehicle bumpers.

How oil leaks into everyday life

Perched on high with liquid wood

Who says high-end consumers don't care about their ecological footprint? Gucci customers take pumps made from bioplastics in stride. Former researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute took lignin, plant fibers and wax and liquefied the compounds together. Injecting the mixture into molds allows the malleable material to be turned into other products.

How oil leaks into everyday life

Fan and eco-friendly?

This soccer top is made from recycled plastic waste — polyester and polyamide, which are derived from increasingly scarce oil resources. It takes 28 plastic bottles to make one jersey, but that can also be made from natural fibers like cotton, wool, linen, hemp and silk.

How oil leaks into everyday life

Brush well

It's never too early to learn proper oral hygiene — not just how to brush, but also which brush to use. Common toothbrushes are made of polyamide, a product based on mineral oil. Stabilizers, softening agents and dye are in the mix, too.

How oil leaks into everyday life

Natural oral hygiene

Back to basics: Toothbrushes can be made of beech wood with pigs' bristles. Tooth powder from sodium bicarbonate, coconut oil, charcoal, and a mix of turmeric, mint, clove, sage, ginger and healing clay can be just as effective as traditional toothpaste, making use of microorganisms, chalk and fennel oil. Yet much of the packaging is still plastic. Some toothpastes contain small, plastic beads.

How oil leaks into everyday life

A clean night's sleep

In the market for a new mattress? Sleeping habits, orthopedic conditions, weight, allergies and material preference (spring, latex, natural rubber or foam) all play a role. Most mattresses are made from oil-based products. Eco-mattresses contain bioplastics made from sunflower oil and castor oil.

How oil leaks into everyday life

The natural toilet

Interior designers say that the bathroom is the new living room. Many people are after something special: Toilet covers that lower automatically to reduce noise, automatic toilet seat cleaning, integrated music systems. Most bathroom items contain plastic. The eco-toilet is instead made of wood. No plastic bin required.

How oil leaks into everyday life

Oil-free cars: just a fantasy?

Biodiesel from canola oil only works with old, smelly diesel motors. Biogas only works as a small component in fuel. The auto industry is looking for energy alternatives to oil, but we are still a ways off from going completely without black gold. Even batteries need oil in their production. One bright spot: hydrogen. Regardless, the car itself contains a lot of crude oil.